Chapter 15 Clusters, Innovation and Collaboration – The Role of the MNE in Finland

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter investigates the role of the multinational enterprise (MNE) in Finland, a small but advanced economy known for its innovative industry clusters. Specifically, the research explores how resource sharing differs between national MNEs, foreign MNE subsidiaries and solely domestic enterprises by type of resources transferred, industry cluster, international orientation, ownership and linkage type. Design/methodology/approach – The responses are drawn from 85 of Finland's 500 largest firms using a survey instrument for data collection. Results are analysed using SPSS/PASW. Findings – The chapter provides evidence that MNEs share innovation-related resources via collaborative and supply chain linkages. More importantly, it confirms the important role of national flagship firms – those firms that are Finnish by origin but international in scope. The findings suggest that local cluster development may be attractive to foreign MNEs, but is more likely shaped by the significant contributions to resource sharing made by national MNEs. The research also finds that linkages with customers rather than suppliers are more likely to involve resource sharing, highlighting the importance of forward linkages in the small, advanced economy context. Originality/value – The results suggest that future research should take a finely grained approach to examining the role of MNEs in resource sharing. Determinants such as types of resources, MNE characteristics and types of linkages are important inclusions in future work.